SonarSource, the Leading Platform for Clean Code, Raises $412 Million in New Investment

GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SonarSource, the leading platform for clean code, today announced it has raised $412 million from new and existing investors, at a valuation of $4.7 billion. The round is led by new investors Advent International and General Catalyst, with existing investor Insight Partners participating. Permira’s Growth Opportunities Fund also participated in the round.

SonarSource will use the investment to grow its go-to-market team globally as the company drives toward $1 billion in revenue.

“SonarSource is an outstanding business that has positioned itself as a category-defining leader in clean code, with a trusted reputation among developers and a truly differentiated solution,” said Bryan Taylor, Head of Advent’s Technology Investment Team and a Managing Partner in Palo Alto. “We are thrilled to partner with Olivier and the SonarSource team as they build a major platform within the software development ecosystem, accelerating the rapid growth in their revenue and user community.”

Used by more than five million developers, SonarSource’s solutions enable enterprises to maximize the value of their software by helping developers and development teams write high-standard code, which is free of bugs and security vulnerabilities, and consistent across the board. As software gets updated continuously, SonarSource ensures that only clean code is embedded directly into the development process, systematically improving the overall health of the code base and meaningfully reducing tech debt. This unlocks significant resource and time savings so developers can focus on innovating, delivering better products and improving customer experience, thereby boosting key business metrics.

“Source code is the key component of software. At SonarSource, we enable companies to make this source code an asset rather than a liability. This delivers huge value, especially when you know this is done as part of the development process and requires no extra effort,” said Olivier Gaudin, CEO and co-founder of SonarSource. “With the market recognizing the importance of code, we have a clear path to $1 billion in revenue. Having the right people and partners around the table will help us to move swiftly toward that goal and prepare for public markets.”

“SonarSource has a bold vision for transforming the way organizations build software. This vision has been clearly validated by the company’s skyrocketing customer adoption and outstanding reputation within the developer community,” said Deep Nishar, Managing Director, General Catalyst. “General Catalyst is excited to support SonarSource in broadening its impact on a global stage.”

The company will use this investment to double its sales force in 2022 and grow its marketing team across existing offices in Geneva, Switzerland; Annecy, France; Bochum, Germany and Austin, Texas. The investment in sales and marketing will help the company expand its reach among the world’s 70 million software developers. In addition, SonarSource will open a new regional headquarters in Singapore, allowing the company to build its business within the burgeoning APAC market.

The investment comes as SonarSource continues to build rapid momentum. Key company milestones include:

• Over five million developers at more than 300,000 organizations use SonarSource’s commercial and community products to improve their code quality.
• In the last four years, SonarSource grew its commercial customer base by more than 2,000%.
• 80 Fortune 100 companies use the platform. IBM, Microsoft, Barclays, Alphabet and NASA are among the major organizations using SonarSource today.

“As an early investor in SonarSource, we’ve been extremely impressed with the company’s continuing maturity and accelerating market penetration. It comes as no surprise: enterprises everywhere need to develop code with high standards quickly, and SonarSource is the only solution enabling that,” said Richard Wells, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “We’re excited to continue our collaboration with SonarSource as the company enters a new stage in its growth journey.”

About SonarSource

SonarSource’s industry leading solution enables developers and development teams to write clean code and remediate existing code organically, so they can focus on the work they love and maximize the value they generate for businesses. Its open source and commercial solutions – SonarLint, SonarCloud, and SonarQube – support 29 programming languages. Trusted by more than 300,000 organizations globally, SonarSource is considered integral to deliver better software.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 390 private equity investments across 41 countries, and as of December 31, 2021, had $88 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 265 private equity investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; health care; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. For over 35 years, Advent has been dedicated to international investing and remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.

For more information, visit
Website: www.adventinternational.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advent-international

About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures — for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, London, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses such as: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of February 24, 2022, the closing of the firm's recent fundraise, Fund XII, brings Insight Partners' regulatory assets under management to over $90B. Insight Partners has invested in more than 600 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Insight Partners meets great software leaders where they are in their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.